Inside SAP Issue 26 Winter 2014

Issue 26 | Winter 2014

www.insidesap.com.au

The independent magazine for SAP professionals

Into the cloud

– Cloudy future for large enterprises: new research

– HANA Enterprise Cloud goes local – Beyond the hype: IT experts get real

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1

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CONTENTS

7

12

16

23

34

47

4

Editor’s note

Hot Topics

23 Artis Group banks on ByDesign

umulonimbus: Bringing the vision C to life

9

lmost half of SAP landscapes to A move to cloud

12 16

26 A quantum leap: Transfield

19 Capgemini makes a play for Australian SAP market

44 The first date: Making a winning impression at interview

Service

31 Achieving 99.9% accuracy with warehouse automation: Schweppes Australia

Technology 34 37

SAP Leaders

Careers

Case Studies

n the path to the cloud: IT O experts share their insight utting keystrokes, improving C customer relationships: Sandvik Mining

year! Now what’s next?

24 On the Move

Cloud special

7

42 Financials: Happy new financial

nterprise asset management: E Mapping the world with GIS

Events 47 SAPPHIRE NOW 2014 50 Events calendar 51

Vendor spotlight

R/payroll: Replacing pain with H peace of mind

39 Security: Interest in SAP security – and hacking new products – grows

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CLOUD SPECIAL HOT TOPICS

Cumulonimbus: bringing the vision to life At the recent All Cloud Connect series of conferences, SAP discussed how cloud is changing the IT landscape, its cloud strategy, and how new investments in the HANA Enterprise Cloud offering and data centres around the world are helping customers to take advantage of the benefits.

The world in the grip of a digital transformation, the likes of which we have never seen. Organisations cannot simply copy the processes and paradigms of the analogue world onto digital platforms, according to Sven Denecken, global vice president for cloud strategy, SAP SE. Presenting at SAP’s All Cloud Connect conference in Sydney, Denecken said that against this backdrop, the motivation for embracing the cloud today is very different from the past, when it was primarily to reduce total cost of ownership of IT assets.

“Companies today are looking for innovation and agility, and cloud needs to stand for simple and faster time to value.

We need to enable you as customers and partners to look and adopt those cloud applications, the infrastructure, the database, the platforms, basically everything as a service, because then we are talking about transformation and innovation,” he said.

This also plays into the changing role of the CIO and IT departments in general.

“We need to move away from the classical ‘survival role’, which is managing the current status, towards being a revenue contributor. It’s actually not possible without looking at what I would call the layers of digital transformation – cloud, data, social, and devices,” Denecken said.

While pure cloud vendors may present a simple pitch – that is, on-premise is bad, and cloud is good – SAP believes hybrid models will become the reality for most

organisations. This position is not surprising, given SAP’s heritage in on-premise, but it still speaks to a pragmatic evolution of the thinking beyond the cries of ‘everything will be cloud’ of a few years ago.

“The strategy needs to be, where can you accelerate with the cloud but with the right mix of solutions that you own on-premise – solutions that are managed, maybe by IT or by a partner or vendor,” Denecken said. “Your starting point of that journey will define that right mix, because we are not living in a ‘rip and replace’ world. We need to understand which kind of delivery methodology, which kinds of solutions make sense.”

With that in mind, the SAP strategy offers a comprehensive cloud platform for customers to be able to adopt elements as needed or the whole shebang. This includes four key components: 1. Line of business applications, covering the areas of employees, customers, suppliers and money; 2. Full ERP in the cloud; 3. The SAP HANA Cloud Platform; and 4. A consistent user experience via Fiori.

“We are building our company strategy around this one innovation platform. We are putting the applications [on that platform] irrespective of the deployment model – onpremise, managed cloud – and we are building analytics as one user experience on top of it,” Denecken said.

For IT leaders to achieve success with cloud, taking into account the perspective of line of business leaders, who increasingly wield the budgetary power to make technology decisions, is more and more important.

“The CIO and the role of IT is changing from classical database and network governance, to really helping the line of business, who are only thinking about problems in their area they want to solve, to look at the broader picture,” Denecken said. “But let’s give them something to start, where they can see and feel the value very fast. Because one thing is clear for IT, it’s if you don’t win in the line of business, you won’t win as CIO.

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CLOUD SPECIAL HOT TOPICS

HANA Enterprise Cloud explained One of the hallmarks of SAP’s cloud strategy is offering customers choice around deployment, and the HANA Enterprise Cloud offering aims to provide just that for organisations looking to leverage the power of the in-memory platform. Launched a little more than a year ago, there are now around 100 customers globally which have chosen this option.

Simon Dale, head of HANA Enterprise Cloud, SAP Asia Pacific Japan, explained the offering is not just any infrastructure and service set, but a virtual private client offering specifically designed to run complex SAP solutions.

Customers in the APJ region are using the service not only because of the cost advantages, but also for the agility it provides to experiment and undertake proof of concept projects with much lower risk and cost.

“You can accelerate or identify business cases in a way that wasn’t possible before. You can build proof points to support a business case which is bringing innovation to the company,” Dale said.

For example, an Australian retail customer is running a proof of concept on the SAP Fraud Management solution, a pure HANA big data analytics application. The project was up and running within 10 days of the customer giving the go-ahead.

While organisations can quickly gain access to the HANA platform on its own via the HANA marketplace, to implement applications such as Business Suite on HANA or SAP Customer Engagement Intelligence on mobile for example, is more complex.

“Now we are talking about a scope which is unique to you which is not simple. It may be a new implementation project or it might be some kind of migration. The point is that right at the outward assessment is when we figure out what you are trying to achieve, and we can say, ‘this is what we can do’,” Dale said.

“If it’s a migration, take a Suite on HANA system for two or three months, get yourself so far, and then take it back and put it on premise. If it’s a QA system you need for a period of time, rent it from us. You can use this as a very flexible backup system for any kind of project scenario, and if you want, you can take it all the way into production, and then you’ll sign a multi-year contract for us to run and manage it.”

Choose your own adventure For customers looking to utilise the HANA Enterprise Cloud service, Dale emphasised there is considerable flexibility around deployment models – in terms of payment methods, rapid deployment solutions, and the choice to work with an external partner or SAP’s Application Management Services.

“As an organisation, we are still learning how to sell the true value of this, but it’s a subscription-based service. You are subscribing to a certain amount of capacity and a certain workload scope which we have agreed in the assessment phase,” Dale said.

“We have introduced a whole new way to access capability,

so for new licences or for incremental licences that you are going to buy from SAP, or to move your existing ones into Suite on HANA or BW on HANA on the service, then you can subscribe to everything. For example, with the Fraud Management application, the customer will pay ‘x’ dollars per month to run it. Then they get the whole [solution] delivered as an outcome to the service level agreement.”

Local data centres giving cloud offering more legs Recognising that while many customers are enthusiastic about the concept of cloud, data sovereignty and performance issues can be something of a dampener, SAP is investing in data centres all around the world.

In the APJ region, Japan led the way with data centres in Tokyo and Osaka, and several customers are already in the process of undertaking deployments and migrations to the HANA Enterprise Cloud. The first customer go-live was planned for July, which is a complete migration of an SAP landscape of around 15 solutions.

In April this year, SAP announced that Australia would have the first of a series of data centres based in Sydney.

The local data centre was established in response to customer demand, with many Australian businesses and agencies keen to access real-time in-memory computing, but reluctant to invest in an on-premise deployment, have their data hosted offshore or battle issues with latency and performance.

On the launch, SAP ANZ general manager, platform solutions, Paul Muller, said there was both a solid technology and business value proposition behind having a local data centre option.

Muller said the ability to move existing SAP licences to this managed cloud service appeals to businesses seeking to reduce capital expenditure.

“This allows them to free up some of their investment in networks and hardware to have them managed in a data centre. In a cash-tight economy, that will enable them to invest in other areas of innovation, ideally with SAP,” Muller said.

Muller expected to see faster adoption of the Enterprise Cloud offering amongst customers, due to its flexibility.

“Many customers have a desire to move to HANA, but in order to look at changes in configuration around their hardware and their project cycle in addition to capital expenditure, having this available means that they can move to the facility and also adopt HANA much faster than their usual cycles,” he said.

Initially, new customers have to purchase SAP on-premise licenses that can then be transferred to the cloud, but Muller said the company will be making announcement on subscription-based models “in due course”.

As well as the HANA Enterprise Cloud offering, Australian customers also can access the SuccessFactors product portfolio from the Sydney data centre.

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Enterprise mobility

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THE CHANGING FACE OF THE SAP ECOSYSTEM

2014

THE NEXT PHASE

TAKING A NEW DIRECTION WITH RIMINI STREET

CAREERS SPECIAL

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– Cloudy future for large enterprises: new research

– HANA Enterprise Cloud goes local – Beyond the hype: IT experts get real

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MAPPING THE WORLD: Enriching SAP with GIS CASE STUDIES TRANSFIELD SERVICES, SCHWEPPES

PARTNER PROFILE CAPGEMINI STRENGTHENS LOCAL SAP PLAY

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CASE STUDY OSR QLD’S EBUSINESS PORTAL

STARTUP FORUM HOW THE LOCAL STARTUPS ARE FARING

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TRAINING LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

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Into the cloud

PARTNERSHIP WHAT IT MEANS FOR HCL AND CSC

GET MORE FROM SAP: 11 SOLUTIONS YOU NEED

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY POWERS CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH WITH HANA

ENTERPRISE TECH TRENDS: What to watch in 2014 CASE STUDIES AFFINITY, REDFLEX NZ DOC

BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMANCE SAP TEAM WHAT SMES REALLY WANT

HYBRIS LIFE AT THE ENTERPRISE COMMERCE FRONTIER

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CAPGEMINI LEADERS

Capgemini makes a play for Australian SAP market In 18 months, Capgemini has grown its SAP practice from one major client and 30 consultants to now boasting 130 consultants, new projects and a prebuilt solution. Freya Purnell spoke to Capgemini vice president and head of SAP ANZ, Clive Ewin, about how they’re ramping up their activities in this area.

ISAP: How have you achieved such impressive growth?

CE: We’ve done that by focusing. We had some good experience in utilities, and we focused hard on that, particularly in transmission and distribution. We decided

we would make that a niche, and it is a growth area in Australia. We picked two other areas – food and beverage within consumer products, and social services in the public sector.

The reason for that was they were all growth areas, but there’s also a trend in the market that you need to be able to provide genuine domain expertise. The days when you could just rock up and say, “We have done lots of large SAP implementations elsewhere” are over. You need to be

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LEADERS

CAPGEMINI

able to say that what you’ve done has been relevant to the client in front of you.

The other side of the coin for us is we’re trying to focus on our domain expertise and being able to present a good business story to the client, because a lot of the time we’re trying to sell transformation more than just SAP implementations.

We developed some momentum in the market, and we worked hard on our employee engagement as well as our client engagement, because people didn’t know that we did SAP. Now it happens to be Capgemini’s largest and fastest growing service line; we’ve grown from fifth to first in a year.

On the employee engagement side, that’s been about improving our channels to market, because talent acquisition is vital, and making sure we have people who not only have technical skills, but who can genuinely consult, because we are trying to sell value.

ISAP: When you’re looking to attract that talent, what does Capgemini offer that is appealing?

CE: Big, successful transformation projects. SAP consultants like big projects and we’ve been able to offer them the full transformation experience. So it’s not just doing an upgrade or banging in a bit of BI, it’s the whole soup to nuts change management and capability uplift story. I think people like that; people have been on enough projects where there’s been a lot of effort expended for very little business value, and I think they want to be part of something successful.

ISAP: What have been some of the customer wins that have driven the growth of the practice?

CE: SAB Miller was a significant win for us. It’s an iconic consumer products brand doing a global rollout, and we’re just going live with that project. Off the back of that, we just picked up the Czech and Slovak Republics in Europe.

It’s been a very hard project; CUB has been enormously demanding. We feel battle hardened actually – I’ve got nothing but the A-team left because they couldn’t survive otherwise. You had to be the A-team to come through that program.

ISAP: What prompted Capgemini to push into the Australian market – where did you see the opportunity here?

CE: At the top of the market in Australia, Accenture is really the only SAP consultancy business in Australia that delivers transformation. A market demands alternatives, it demands options, so I’ve always seen that there was a place for a big world-class transformation consultancy to compete directly with Accenture. We do transformation as well as anybody does, and we have the sort of collaboration technique that works well for us.

ISAP: Tell us about the solutions you’re developing.

CE: We’re building our own transmission and distribution system, a private cloud if you will. This is for utilities organisations that perhaps don’t have the budget or the

10 Inside SAP magazine

client base to justify a full ERP implementation, so we have something we believe will give an 80 per cent fit. What you get as a small transmission and distribution entity is a world-class ERP that will be around a quarter of the cost of what they may have paid traditionally, with a run contract attached. In that regulated environment, you need an ERP to do battle with a regulator – if you can’t justify your spend, then you can’t justify what you charge to the regulator.

Pre-built solutions are not new, they’ve just not traditionally been very successful. But I think what will make this successful is people are more attuned to the cloud, and the key is it really is industry-specific. You need that 80 per cent fit. We’re almost ready to roll with that, and we have a number of clients lined up.

We can see other potential industries that we would go after in the same way, but this is the first one.

ISAP: What are organisations looking for from you when it comes to business transformation?

CE: They’re looking for speed to value. Nobody wants to do a year of blueprint and two years of delivery any more.

You’ve got to get there more quickly. There has to be lowhanging fruit to pick up on the way.

We’re also seeing a lot more brownfield – these are organisations which perhaps put in SAP in the late 90s, and it’s taken them 10 years to get the courage up to have another crack. They’re a little wiser – they’ve probably used a lot of contractors for a lot of years, and now they’re looking for something that accelerates value, and that doesn’t necessarily throw away what they’ve got where that’s practical. That raises all kinds of different delivery issues.

Skin in the game is really important too. I don’t think you can rock up with a T&M proposition. So we’re prepared to take a punt with our clients and run for outcomes, even where we don’t have full control over those outcomes.

ISAP: So that means you need a really good collaborative relationship with the business.

CE: We absolutely do. That means we need to play not just in SAP, we need to play across the business benefit angle, and change and training as well. You need to be full service.

ISAP: In your view, what’s the most exciting new development around SAP? CE: I know HANA has probably been done to death, but it just does open up a lot of opportunities for analytics. That’s deciding just what we can do in SAP that we couldn’t do before because of the data-crunching constraints. Mobility is also exciting because it makes us far more immediately valuable and relevant to your average employee. The push for useability has been a bit of a revolution within SAP. We’ve gone from being horribly ugly to being very conscious of the user interface and the recognition that that’s where the value is realised.

ISAP: What’s the biggest challenge SAP customers are facing?

CE: There is still a dilemma over services. There are the three possible ways of servicing your SAP needs – in-house, some kind of contractor plus in-house, or fully outsourced – and I think finding the right blend to meet your needs, and being clever about how you acquire and use talent is definitely a dilemma. You don’t want to be stuck with an expensive SAP workforce, but you need to recognise where you have specific value that needs to be protected.

ISAP: Do you think that’s becoming more difficult as the solution portfolio gets more complex and more layered?

CE: I think it does, because you can end up with a lot of niche skills in your business. I think you need to be very careful with what you implement in terms of the cost of ownership in servicing it. So how readily available is the skill set? Are you going to be stuck with the outrageously expensive contractor? I think in terms of portfolio, it’s being smart around the cost of maintaining it and its longevity.

SAP has chopped and changed a few times, so you could have been caught out there, and bought something that’s become a redundant product line.

ISAP: Are there any other trends you’re seeing in the way customers are approaching SAP projects?

CE: One of the reasons we started to move down the prebuilt route was the larger clients are expecting a lot more

collateral upfront. They expect you to roll up with a fully defined set of processes that will fit their business, they expect all the tools and accelerators, and they expect high quality. You need all that simply to be in the game. That’s why producing a prebuilt solution was an obvious extension of that.

From a recruitment perspective, I’m also seeing people move back into consulting. With the age-old dilemma for the SAP consultant of whether to work as a private contractor or as a consultant, we’re seeing some people come back into consulting at the high end. They see the career value in it, as well as the career satisfaction. A lot of the people I’ve hired are people that I’ve known for years, and I think they’ve enjoyed the collegiate atmosphere that you get in a successful SAP practice that you don’t necessarily get if you’re out there working for yourself.

ISAP: Finally, what are your plans for Capgemini’s SAP practice in the future?

CE: We will maintain our focus, and I would expect public sector to pay dividends in the next 12 months on the back of some significant investment in hiring and training. We will also slowly expand our sector base, adding industries that are aligned, and where we can naturally extend our domain expertise. We will use our global capability to accelerate this.

I see cautious but optimistic growth.

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CASE STUDY

SCHWEPPES

Schweppes achieves 99.9 per cent accuracy with warehouse automation A single SAP system combined with a voice-controlled picking system has streamlined Schweppes’ distribution centre, bringing significant benefits in efficiency and safety.

Iconic brand Schweppes has been delivering premium quality non-alcoholic beverages to Australians for more than 150 years. First pioneered in Geneva in 1783 by Jacob Schweppes, the remarkable process of capturing and bottling bubbles was brought to Australia in 1850. The first Schweppes factory was built in Sydney in 1877.

Today, Schweppes Australia is a beverage powerhouse, boasting 1800 employees, 11 manufacturing sites and 12 distribution centres (DCs) across the country. It manufactures some of Australia’s most popular drinks including Schweppes, SOLO, Cottee’s, Spring Valley, Pepsi and Gatorade.

Schweppes Australia distributes and delivers beverage products to more than 30,000 customers nationally. One of its largest DCs, the Archerfield site in Queensland, services a large majority of the state’s market. More than 40 employees pick up to 16,000 cases daily, which are delivered to more than 5000 customers.

Time to upgrade Until recently, the Schweppes Archerfield DC operated using multiple SAP systems and basic Microsoft planning software with warehouse tasks executed via paper-based activity. This model saw all tasks completed on paper followed by numerous manual SAP inputs and transactions for different areas of the

12 Inside SAP magazine

DC, giving Schweppes no real-time, DC-wide visibility and control over operations.

In order to combat the inaccuracies and inefficiencies caused by this outdated manual system, Schweppes brought in Icon Integration to oversee an upgrade to an entirely new DC management system. Icon worked in partnership with Dexion to roll-out its Real-Time Distribution System (RDS) middleware – a paperless system capable of controlling both the operational and physical processes – while seamlessly interfacing the RDS with a single centralised SAP system holding real-time information from all areas of the DC. The upgrade was also complemented by a new Vocollect voice solution.

Jason Nalewabau, director, Icon Integration, said the new system regulated and incorporated information captured from every aspect of operation across the DC. “Schweppes now has a single SAP system that simultaneously manages and coordinates technologies such as voice, field devices and sensors, host connectivity, barcode scanners, RF and more,” says Nalewabau. “The new system provides an at-a-glance overview of every physical task.

Real-time information can be arranged with a point-andclick interface that displays the key tasks operating within a distribution centre.”

One SAP system benefiting every corner of the DC The development of the new DC management system was completed in a four-month period and it was rapidly integrated in just one month. Fast implementation allowed Schweppes to achieve a significant return on investment (ROI) with benefits leveraged almost immediately.

According to Schweppes Australia’s Queensland distribution manager, Mike Heide, the operational improvements of the new system were immediately visible.

“We’ve seen a significant improvement in the allocation of resources, productivity and accuracy since introducing the new system. We’ve also had more than 99.9 per cent improvement in accuracy,” says Heide.

One of the biggest benefits for Schweppes was the visibility over each and every work task, in contrast to the lack of coordination and duplicate handlings experienced under the old system. The lack of an overall outlook under the previous system had led to Schweppes introducing inefficient practices such as over-replenishing their pick faces. This led to delays caused by workers having to get a forklift to pick from higher shelving levels which were usually reserved for storage purposes.

The upgraded SAP system drastically improved replenishment and picking processes so that Schweppes was able to introduce more flexible and efficient practices in the case pick area. Schweppes can, at the click of a button, monitor shipments required for the upcoming work day, assess whether there are any gaps in replenishment, prioritise and sequence order drops and check the status of all waves in the process.

This put Schweppes Archerfield management in a position to greatly reduce the number of steps in the order shipment process to bulk pick, transfer order to the staging line, drop

actual orders and retrieve orders from the staging line.

This new benchmark for shipment processing was made possible by enabling the SAP and route optimisation systems to decide all work tasks and then communicate them through voice direction. The new process exceeded Schweppes’ initial expectations by completely removing all duplication of tasks. The syncing of all tasks via the SAP system also gave Schweppes, for the first time, the confidence to introduce automated daily cycle-counting and standardised reporting that they could eventually use across all DCs. Schweppes Australia’s national logistics execution manager, Danny Murphy, considers the biggest benefit of the new system to be the seamless integration of all the warehouse systems.

“As a result of implementing a real-time replenishment system, we’re more efficient and accurate. We have better batch control of our pick face and we’re providing a safer work

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CASE STUDY

SCHWEPPES

environment for our employees,” says Murphy.

“The implementation of the new system was seamless, particularly due to Icon’s solution design process and expert knowledge of our logistics, SAP and integration needs. Their expert team led and supported our multi-vendor integration at all stages along the way.”

Voice direction also met another key aim by removing the need for workers to use paper and providing clear instructions for workers to follow. This was important for Schweppes which had 400 different product descriptions – many very similar – which frequently led to errors in picking. Under the new system, workers are directed to the right picking location via their headset. The location is confirmed with the check digit upon arrival and the voice solution advises the picker how many cartons they need to pick and asks for confirmation.

The new system can clearly identify productivity reports for all workers, and Schweppes has already seen increased productivity benefits, particularly when it comes to product replenishment, which has already seen a pick rate increase of more than 20 per cent.

Broader benefits of automation Members of Schweppes Archerfield DC management are not the only ones to benefit following implementation of the new voice system. The benefits of increased efficiency, productivity, visibility and safety have all come together to produce an

14 Inside SAP magazine

enhanced supply chain where performance ultimately makes for a happier customer rewarded with more accurate and timely deliveries.

Additionally, Schweppes Archerfield’s warehouse staff values the fact that its managers have invested in the latest technologies that have made their jobs much easier and safer.

Future rollouts Given the success of the system upgrade at Schweppes Archerfield, Ian Gatenby, Australia’s general manager of logistics and customer service operations, says Schweppes Australia is already part way through a project to roll out the new technology nationally.

“We operate on a national basis and we do have plans to leverage the benefits we are seeing at Archerfield right across our network. We would like to use this technology as a means of standardising our way of doing business at Schweppes Australia,” says Gatenby.

A second site is now up and running in Prospect, NSW, and Icon is also working with Schweppes to plan further deployments.

The independent magazine for SAP professionals

Icon Integration is a privately owned Australian-based SAP solution partner. For further information on this project, visit www.iconintegration.com.au/ or www.vocollectvoice.com/video/videos-schweppes.

HR/PAYROLL TECHNOLOGY

Replacing pain with peace of mind Australian-owned, Sydney-based niche consulting player Silfen specialises in SAP-related services and solutions, including SuccessFactors, and is particularly sought after for its HCM expertise. Not afraid to roll up their sleeves and tackle difficult technical areas, Silfen consultants have a reputation for bringing deep knowledge and a focus on value-add to the table.

We caught up with Silfen directors Matt Perks (pictured top right) and Reinoud van Oosterhout (right) to find out how they go beyond the call of duty to bring peace of mind to both their customers and their employees.

ISAP: Silfen has been working in the SAP market for many years, but you have kept a low profile up until now. Tell us what Silfen is all about.

Matt Perks: We’re a bunch of hard-working people who get things done! We’ve been focusing on working closely with our existing customers, listening to their needs and making sure we are agile enough to meet their business demands as and when required.

Reinoud Van Oosterhout: As experienced SAP-focused consultants, we have a ‘no nonsense – high quality, on time, and on budget’ approach. These formulate and reflect our company values, so we apply this across the board – it’s good for our customers, good for our team of consultants and good for Silfen.

ISAP: As a consultancy, what is Silfen’s point of difference, and what are your capabilities?

MP: After many years in senior roles working for other people, Reinoud and I wanted to start our own consultancy – one that was very consultant-centric. We have a real desire to look after people, who actually ‘are’ the company. This is the pillar of our culture, and means offering them the opportunity to keep up to date, train, and feel like they are a part of something rather than just a number. Our philosophy is ‘treat the employee well, and exemplary work follows’.

The central mantra of our culture is ‘Peace of Mind’, which is true for both our personal and professional lives.

Everything we do is aimed at realising this core value.

This means happy customers, happy partners, and happy employees.

RVO: When we started Silfen, we wanted selfdetermination and the ability to remain agile, which can sometimes be difficult in a larger organisation. Our consultants now have between eight and 26 years of experience with SAP solutions, both on-premise and cloud, including all integration points such as Basis and development, and where we see a gap in what SAP provides and it’s a pain point for our customers, we even purpose-build our own solutions.

We also have deep experience across a wide range of industries including retail, manufacturing, state and federal government, pharmaceutical, financial services, engineering and mining.

ISAP: During your time as consultants in the SAP arena, what have been the common issues you see your customers struggling with?

MP: One area many of our customers were not satisfied with is the limitations of the SAP standard leave provision solution, and it was difficult to ‘push the limits’ of the standard offering to try to ‘twist’ it into shape. In particular, companies with high volumes of employee movements between teams were not adequately costing their provision movements, and were struggling with very limited clarity as to the components of leave liability; for example, accrual versus leave taken versus pay rise-related changes. This type

www.insidesap.com.au 15

TECHNOLOGY

HR/PAYROLL

of information is often freely available in other financial systems, which are perceived as lower end than SAP. RVO: Companies who rely heavily on payroll costing are struggling with the timing and costing options that are available through standard SAP Leave Provision solutions.

These SAP customers see credits going to the wrong cost centre, and they are not easily able to report on things such as new leave accrual per period. These Finance or Cost Centre Managers cannot gain any insight against the single leave provision debit/credit each period represents. They simply can’t run a report that will demonstrate the leave provisions explaining the movement in leave liability.

Many of our customers were not satisfied with the limitations of the SAP standard leave provision solution, and it was difficult to ‘push the limits’ of the standard offering to try to ‘twist’ it into shape.

Matt Perks, Silfen

ISAP: What problems does this create for the customer?

MP: Cost centre managers are copping expenses for people who didn’t work for them! This makes it extremely difficult for them to accurately budget, or work to a budget … in an environment where workplaces are increasingly driven by accountability.

RVO: The limitation poses a real problem for companies that are trying to align their weekly invoicing cycle with payroll costs, as well as customers who do frequent profitability reporting – for example, weekly reporting.

Typically they experience a disconnect as the leave provision in standard SAP is only processed on a monthly basis. Costs will go to the incorrect cost centre and this raises questions to cost centre managers about accuracy.

Profit Centre 17000 debit credit $

Cost Centre 170426 debit credit

Balance sheet

Profit Centre 18200 debit credit $

Let the liability transfer with the employee…

Expense

Cost Centre 182034 debit credit

ISAP: So what solution do you provide for your customers?

MP: Silfen’s Leave Provision Insights and Costing solution (LPIC) aligns leave accrual and other leave provision movements to the period or partial period where the expense actually occurred. This makes sure the leave provisions are aligned from a costing and liability point of view.

RVO: LPIC is a purpose-built software solution that is robust yet flexible by design, so that it can support leave liability calculation for multiple industries, countries and even customer-specific requirements. Despite this broad capability, we have deliberately made it simple to install out of the box, with minimal configuration required, so it is a very cost-effective ‘plug and play’ enhancement. With slightly more configuration, we can tweak LPIC to be fit to purpose, depending on the client’s requirements.

ISAP: How does LPIC achieve this?

accruals, rate increases and so on. This reporting can be done via a new dedicated reporting transaction – which has been custom-built as part of LPIC, or via SpinifexIT’s EasyReporter.

ISAP: What kind of response have you seen from your customers to LPIC? MP: We went live with the solution earlier in the year, and have had a very positive response and excellent feedback from our customers.

RVO: One of the advantages for customers is they can choose the level of granularity to which they wish to report.

One of our customers, who has complex seasonal workforce requirements, has been able to align the real costs for the first time.

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RVO: At a high level, LPIC is an add-on to the payroll driver, which stores payroll results, so payroll postings are correctly allocated. LPIC performs all the leave provision calculations, with a separate reporting capability, which allows you to report on employee leave movements such as impacts on provision as a result of leave taken, leave

16 Inside SAP magazine

This article is sponsored by Silfen. For more information and a demonstration of LPIC, email LPIC@silfen.com. au or contact Silfen Sales Operations Manager, Sarah Cunningham on 0424 531 345. For a brochure on LPIC, please visit Silfen’s website at www.silfen.com.au.

CAREERS

SEARCH

The first date So you have managed to land a first date with a potential suitor. How do you prepare to make those first impressions count? Adrian Everett continues his series on how you can bring your dating expertise to the recruitment world.

It is something that people are doing constantly, it is something that many may be doing right now as you read this article. However, it is surprising how many people still manage to make a mess of the first date! The key to success on that first date starts long before the actual event itself and finishes after you have already completed your interlude with the potential suitor.

Preparation If you want to stand out as exceptional to your suitor, then the key is in your preparation. This includes: 1. Know why you want the date, what is attractive about the other party, and why you can see at least some sort of future with them. Adopt the mindset (without being overconfident) that you are also interviewing them, and you need to know what you want from your prospective partner.

2. R esearch everything you can about your potential partner. From LinkedIn to Facebook to Google News, there is a wealth of information available about every person or company in the public domain. You might be even more proactive and look at their website to understand them better. Bookmark your research and review it on the day of the first date (otherwise known

as an interview) – you never know what additional information you might remember that can be used to impress your ‘date’ further.

3. Talk to their ex or current partner! In the days of social media, the ‘six degrees of separation’ theory (or first, second or third connections if we are talking LinkedIn!) is even more valid. Talk to someone who has dated your prospective partner in the past, or even someone who is currently in a relationship with them.

Their advice can be an definite advantage in converting your first date into a second date or a long-term relationship.

4. U nderstand their culture – and match yourself to it.

Use the information you gained from the above steps to match yourself to this culture. It is even helpful to write yourself a profile of your date’s ideal partner to ensure that you understand what they want to see in you, and consider it from their perspective.

5. Ensure you have a copy of the position description.

Preempt the questions you may be asked by considering each point in the position description and identify an experience of your own to discuss against each point.

This will ensure you have real examples of your past relationships to prove you are qualified. You want to avoid talking about the bitter divorce three years ago simply because you blurted out the first answer that came to mind when you were asked how you handled a difficult situation.

6. ‘ I can do it’ – having a positive outlook and confidence is one thing. However, considering all aspects of the position description, ensure you can do it! Make sure you are confident in each and every aspect and write yourself examples to remind you of when you have performed in each area in the past. If you are

www.insidesap.com.au 17

You want to avoid talking about the bitter divorce three years ago simply because you blurted out the first answer that came to mind when you were asked how you handled a difficult situation.

Adrian Everett, Everjoy Consulting

stretching yourself to try a new challenge in this relationship, make sure you have thought about how you are going to meet that challenge and please your potential partner.

On the day of the date, what might seem most obvious is often overlooked. y y Print out several copies of your resume to have on hand in case your suitors are underprepared or running late.

Make them feel good and in control so they don’t get flustered or start the interview on a negative note. y y Have a list of your past relationships (the good ones only) ready in case your date goes well, and your suitor wants to qualify you further before progressing the relationship. y y Dress to suit the context. If you are going to a theme park, then don’t wear your best tie. If you are going to a black tie ball, then bring out the shoe polish and the best suit possible. y y Leave your phone in the car or don’t bring it at all!

Even on silent, the buzzing of a mobile is sure to add discomfort for both parties.

The date: key points of etiquette So you’ve done all the research and preparation possible.

It’s time to wipe the sweat off the palms, calm the nerves, and make your entrance.

1. Arrive early – it can take some time to settle in and relax to ensure your mind is clear and all your research doesn’t fall apart at the last minute. There is nothing worse than turning up to a first date perspiring because you ran from the train station as you were running late.

2. Treat everyone with respect and courtesy from the moment you arrive, even if the janitor is filling in at reception and shows you the way to the table for your interview.

3. R emember names – there’s nothing worse than calling a key prospect by the wrong name.

4. T he handshake is all important – show firmness and confidence, but don’t rip the person’s arm off.

Remember, you still have to sell yourself before any

18 Inside SAP magazine

more contact will happen so don’t hang onto the handshake forever as if you are already bound for life.

5. Stick to the point. Don’t bore your date by rambling off on tangents or telling irrelevant stories that see them slouching forwards, leaning on their elbows (if this happens, walk out of the date as you have already blown it). The best way to stay on topic is to use numbers, facts, and the real examples you have gathered from your preparation.

6. No bull. If you don’t know something, you don’t know it. Allow your date the opportunity to express their knowledge and opinions, and listen if they are imparting something to you. Ownership of what you know and what you don’t is a credit to you, and not a negative.

7. Ask questions. The best and most thorough preparation should have created more questions than it solved. Have educated and well-researched questions ready to ask your interviewer, remembering communication is a two-way street, so you need to listen to their answers with genuine interest.

8. Close the date – what are the next steps and with what timing? Is there anything they would like you to add before you leave? Remember, use your interviewer’s name while farewelling with your non-arm ripping handshake, and be respectful to the janitor on the way out again.

Post-date The date is over, but the memories still linger. Before they fade, write down your recollection of the interview for your records. Include who was present (if it was a group date) and their positions, what questions you were asked and what examples you used in answer. What was the general body language of each person on the date and what was your general feeling as to how it went? Most importantly, where do you think the date could have been improved and why? This information can help you improve your performance next time around.

Follow up the date with an email to say thank you. Be polite and concise, and don’t try to recover any questions from the interview which may have gone slightly askew.

It’s that easy, nothing to it. So you should now be on your way to being the CEO of BHP or the Prime Minister. Just don’t forget the little people once you achieve your dating success from here on in!

The independent magazine for SAP professionals

Adrian Everett is the managing director of Everjoy Consulting. Adrian has more than 14 years of SAP industry experience specialised in human resources and recruitment. Everjoy Consulting is a specialist recruitment firm focussed on business transformation projects with further information available from www. everjoy.com.au.

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